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Ontario farm’s water buffalo are the big cheese: The New Farm

Nothing says spring like the birth of a baby animal — even if that baby is a 100-pound water buffalo, named Jolene.

Jolene was born last month at the Ontario Water Buffalo Company, about two hours east of Toronto. Owners Martin Littkemann and Lori Smith are expecting about 100 such calves this spring.

Females like Jolene are particularly coveted for their milk. In four years, when she’s a full-grown 1.5-metre-tall, 910-kilogram adult, she’ll be producing up to 10 litres of milk per day.

And that’s music to Littkemann and Smith’s ears.

Buffalo milk is a lucrative, sought-after, versatile product. It’s protein rich, high in fat and low in cholesterol. This spring, Littkemann and Smith are working with commercial dairies in Toronto and elsewhere to produce new water buffalo products, including gelato and a blue cheese called Azzurro di Bufala.

Restaurateurs are catching on. Clark Day, newly minted fellow of the Ontario Hostelry Institute and owner of Bayview Farm Restaurant in Kingston, Ont., says Littkemann and Smith make some of the best cheese in the province. In his fine dining establishment, he offers the Ontario Water Buffalo Company’s mozzarella — the crowning jewel of a tasty Caprese salad — along with its Asiago, blue and ricotta cheese.

“Martin and Lori are talented and incredibly hard working farmers” he says, “and we are honoured to represent them at our restaurant. Their products help keep our menu varied and original.”

Water buffalo could do much worse than to belong to the Ontario Water Buffalo Company herd. The farm, which supports an impressive 350 animals, is one of the largest and most well-established of the dozen water buffalo farms in Canada.

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Yet despite its size, Littkemann, Smith and their herdspeople know each animal by name.

Jolene, for example, is joining the likes of Zorra, Jamaica and Sunnie, other names found in the herd.

The water buffalo have oodles of room to roam and graze here — 182 hectares, in fact. They can swim in an eight-foot-deep pond. They can wallow in whatever mud they can find.

Or they can chill.

Despite their size, water buffalo are gentle, docile animals, content to do very little. Yvette, the farm mascot, even lets people sit on her back for photos, each year during the Water Buffalo Food Festival in nearby Stirling.

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And even though they are easily milked — like they are twice a day at the Ontario Water Buffalo Company, at 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. — they’ve never really caught on in Canada. Here, more productive breeds of dairy cows, especially Holsteins, are favoured, which give about three times as much milk per day.

But that’s fine with farmers Littkemann and Smith, who have experience with conventional dairy and beef cattle. When they decided to commit to water buffalo, they weren’t looking for the norm.

“We tend to take the road less travelled,” Littkemann says. “We like doing something different, and in Canada, it’s hard to find something more different to farm than water buffalo.”

What’s next for these water buffalo farmers?

Researchers at the University of Guelph and McGill University are helping the Ontario Water Buffalo Company improve the genetics of their herd. That involves modern reproductive technology, such as embryo transfer, in-vitro fertilization and artificial insemination. By the fall, the farm hopes to be exporting breeding animals.

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It’s estimated that by 2050, the world will be consuming two-thirds more protein than it does today. Some experts believe indigenous animal species such as water buffalo could help. “Buffalo production makes an important contribution to economic development, rural livelihood, poverty alleviation, and meets the fast-growing demand for animal protein,” write B.M. Naveena and M. Kiran in the journal Animal Frontiers.

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